[Mb-civic] Putin's Spreading War - Masha Lipman - Washington Post Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

Putin's Spreading War

By Masha Lipman
Monday, October 17, 2005; Page A15

MOSCOW -- The attack on Nalchik, capital of the north Caucasus republic 
of Kabardino-Balkaria, was a carefully planned guerrilla operation 
carried out in broad daylight in a big city. The estimates of the 
fighters' numbers have varied from 50 to 600 (as of Sunday, official 
figures and news service accounts cited more than 130 people dead, 
including 94 attackers, and 15 arrested), but the important fact is that 
they were able to penetrate the city unnoticed and unhampered, thus 
demonstrating a clear advantage over numerically far superior federal 
forces in planning, intelligence and organization.

Vladimir Putin inherited the problem of Chechnya when he came to power. 
He pledged to make Russia safer, but during his tenure, terrorism and 
subversive activity have steadily expanded. His launching of the second 
atrocious war in Chechnya soon after he took office as prime minister in 
1999 led to a vicious circle of guerrilla attacks, followed by 
retaliation by federal forces, which in turn brought out increasing 
numbers of young Chechen men seeking revenge. Later Putin opted for a 
Chechenization of the crisis and ended up with a pro-Moscow Chechen 
leader with a reputation as a butcher; his armed followers are reported 
to use abductions, hostage-taking and torture against their enemies. 
This man was granted the highest state award and was personally 
befriended by Putin, who received him in the Kremlin.

Russian special forces troops throw a smoke grenade into a store where 
Islamic militants were holding hostages Friday during a series of 
attacks in Nalchik, capital of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Russian special forces troops throw a smoke grenade into a store where 
Islamic militants were holding hostages Friday during a series of 
attacks in Nalchik, capital of Kabardino-Balkaria. (By Maxim Novikov -- 
Associated Press)

Terrorist attacks under Putin have included the Moscow theater siege in 
the fall of 2002, in which more than 800 people were taken hostage by 
Chechen terrorists; a botched rescue operation left 120 hostages dead. 
After that, terrorist attacks followed in a quickening succession that 
climaxed in the terrible tragedy at the Beslan schoolhouse in northern 
Ossetia in September 2004. The terrorism problem was no longer confined 
to Chechnya; it had spread all over the north Caucasus and was making 
plain the need for a major rethinking of policy.

But instead of rethinking things, Putin seized on the Beslan tragedy as 
an excuse to launch a political crackdown and to further curb democratic 
practices. The information about the situation in the north Caucasus, as 
well as anti-terrorist operations, became even more tightly filtered by 
state-controlled TV networks. The investigation of Beslan, like that of 
the theater siege before it, has been much more about helping 
high-ranking officials avoid accountability than about a careful probe 
of the government's policy flaws.

When Putin took over as Russia's president, Kabardino-Balkaria was 
quiet. But Putin's use of brutal force in Chechnya has backfired, 
producing growing numbers of revenge-seekers. Further centralization of 
power has led to deeper problems of the kind inherent in a heavily 
bureaucratic system: poor performance, lack of accountability, failure 
to coordinate efforts because each official seeks first and foremost to 
avoid responsibility at any cost. A local leader with an independent 
source of authority is regarded with suspicion -- loyalty to the Kremlin 
is valued above all. This breeds incompetence and powerlessness among 
local officials.

Putin and those around him routinely attribute violent attacks in the 
north Caucasus republics to international terrorism. In fact, what is in 
common to all these predominantly Muslim regions is the abominable 
corruption of the local elites, awful social conditions and 
disenfranchised populations that become easy prey for radical 
underground groups.

...continued:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/16/AR2005101600801.html?nav=hcmodule
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